Stanford is less than four months removed from what those outside the program could view as a heartbreaking end to the 2013 season: Facing fourth down near midfield with less than two minutes remaining in the Rose Bowl, fullback Ryan Hewitt's plunge into the Michigan State front came up short, sending the Cardinal to a 24-20 defeat.

Painful? Undoubtedly. But inside the Stanford locker room hours after January's loss, team leaders weren't dwelling on the negatives – a missed play here, a blown assignment there – but rather the positives: "We've won back-to-back Pac-12 championships," quarterback Kevin Hogan said. "We're going to be here for a while. This one hurts, but the future looks bright."

This mentality has trickled down from Coach David Shaw and his staff to a roster brimming with veterans and elder statesmen well-versed in the Cardinal's system. As Stanford prepares for the 2014 season, Shaw is betting on an experienced team using the Rose Bowl loss as motivation, giving a confident program another boost in its quest for a spot in the College Football Playoff.

As his team enters offseason conditioning, Shaw spoke by phone with USA TODAY Sports national college football writer Paul Myerberg about his team's mentality, how Stanford recruits, the conference-games debate, the Pac-12 vs. the SEC and one of his biggest professional goals.

Q: After wrapping things up earlier than most programs, particularly in the Pac-12, any general thoughts on your spring? The team seem ready for summer workouts?

A: Well, the defense is ahead of the offense, which is not to be unexpected. But I think some people kind of thought that wouldn't be the case this year because we do have a returning starting quarterback and some good receivers coming back and all that – and losing (defensive coordinator) Derek Mason and Shayne Skov and Trent Murphy. But you look at our defense and the front seven is full of fourth- and fifth-year seniors. And one junior in (defensive end) Aziz Shittu in the two-deep right now. It's exciting. We're an experienced group up there, and that showed throughout spring. I think (defensive end) Henry Anderson's due for a breakout year. I think he's going to be phenomenal this year and coveted by the NFL teams.

Q: That might be the perception nationally: Stanford's lost this guy and that guy, lost Mason, and the Cardinal are going to be different. But it's not so different, is it? With this much experience, the mentality seems unchanged.

A: And that's what we talk about: Having a program, not a group of players. And the guys understand that, and they appreciate it, you know? Trent Murphy, he's excited that there's not going to be a drop-off defensively with him leaving. Not just because he was a great player, but he played extremely well within the scheme on top of being a great player.

Q: You spoke about Henry Anderson, who has been mentioned a bunch as a player to watch nationally. He's going to take on a productive role, but is he also assuming a leadership role within the team?

A: Yeah. We've got a group of guys. Henry's in the group, you know. He's a guy who's been productive, was hurt last year but came back strong before the end of the year. He's 6-foot-6, 290 pounds, extremely athletic. He's one of those guys who's just paid the price on game day and earned a lot of respect on our team.

Q: You said last summer that your 2012 recruiting class featured the greatest offensive line haul you've ever seen. Two years later, behind guys like Andrus Peat and Kyle Murphy, are they starting to live up expectations?

A: Well, they better. We need them to. We need them to. But we're on that path. Andrus is a phenom, and we hope to have him for two more years because when he does decide to come out – hopefully two years from now – he's going to be the best tackle in America. I think Kyle Murphy's going to be right there with him. I think Josh Garnett has a chance to be a standout offensive guard. He's so athletic at 315 pounds. We have a very good group and they're going to jell together. I'm excited about them because these next two years, these guys being juniors and seniors, has the chance to be exciting.

Q: So will the greatest offensive-line recruiting class you've ever seen turn into the greatest offensive line you've ever seen? That's a big step to take, but is that the potential – best line in America?

A: Knowing these guys, that's their mindset. We're going to be honest with them, because we're not there yet. We're not going to start the season as the best line in America. There's no chance. We don't have enough experience; we haven't done enough as a unit. So the charge is there because we believe the ability is there, we believe they fit in our scheme extremely well. We don't have just five talented guys. I believe right off the bat we've got at least seven guys, hopefully eight, that will be ready to play and rotate in as backup tackles, etc., as we've done in the past. So it's a talented group. If they can put the work in, and I know they have the mindset for this offseason, what they need to accomplish… they have that opportunity, but they'll have to earn it.

Q: Another personnel question: Any clarity on the running back competition? With four or five guys jostling for position during the spring, did you see one or two separate themselves from the pack heading into the summer?

A: There's a little bit of clarity on what guys do well, and that's really all we're looking for right now. I'm not trying to get an established starter, who's going to be our lead back. That's just going to happen, if it does happen, that'll happen naturally. What we're doing as a staff is trying to say, "What do these guys do well and let's put them in a position to do things well." In our open practices, Barry Sanders has been great. People have noticed that, and that's been great. I think Kelsey Young in our open practices has been great. Ricky Seale… there are some things Ricky does extremely well, that he does better than the rest of group. I think Remound Wright does some things that are very good. So for me right now, it's a four-headed monster that we're going to rotate guys in there and give them chances to play. And if somebody ends up taking over and getting more carries than the rest, then that just happens naturally. But right now I really love where those guys are.

But I would say one more personnel thing: For me, it's the combination of Kevin Hogan going into his third year as a starter and the receiving group that we have coming back. We're going to put pressure on those guys also because they have the chance to be special. You look at a Ty Montgomery, look at a Devon Cajuste, who's made big plays in big games at 230 pounds. Michael Rector, who averaged 30 yards a catch. Those three guys with a combination of a third-year quarterback, they have a chance to be dangerous.

Q: Do you foresee being able to blend the tight end back into the mix a little more, based on what you have returning and coming into the mix before August?

A: There's no question. We're expecting it and I believe it's going to happen. The three young guys we recruited last year had really good springs and showed they're getting ready to play. Bringing in the No. 1 tight end in the nation (freshman Dalton Schultz) in the last recruiting class also. I think he helps a ton. So we've got depth there and athleticism. So you'll see us be able to utilize those guys more, kind of get those things you saw (former tight ends) Zach Ertz, Coby Fleener and Levine Toilolo do. We've got those bodies back again to do some of those same things.

Q: I wonder how long you've been replaying the final play of the Rose Bowl. I know you've always aimed to use each moment as a teaching tool, but did it take you some time to get over how that game ended, the pain of it?

A: No, not really. In the locker room after the game I was disappointed. My biggest disappointment was for the outgoing seniors. I wanted them to be two-time Rose Bowl champions. But what I said to the team was, "We're not going to complain about being two-time Pac-12 champions either. We're not going to apologize for losing in our second Rose Bowl in a row. We're not going to apologize for being an 11-plus-win team the last few years." So yes, was I disappointed? Absolutely. But it's really nothing to hang your head about, nothing to have a hangover about over an offseason. Because to me that overshadows the phenomenal things that did happen during the year.

For me, I'm going to accentuate the positives. We're going to take those lessons learned, and I think the biggest lesson we learned above all was you better respect this Michigan State football team. They're a good football team. That defense was probably the best defense we played in three years. And you don't know that until you get on the field. And it was legitimate; it was real. The bottom line was we had a chance to win, we had the ball in our hands at the end of the game, and we didn't win it. We didn't get it done. That's another lesson you learn going forward. But we're going to take the lessons from there and move forward. You can't live life in the rearview mirror.

Q: I know there's absolutely no animosity between the two coaching staffs, but I don't imagine you're going to call Oregon and Mark Helfrich and say, "Look out for this," when the Ducks meet Michigan State in September.

A: Never any animosity. I love Mark. I think he's a great football coach, I think he's a great person. I wish him well, you know, 11 out of the 12 games he plays because I know him and his wife and I think they're phenomenal people. But it's football, and regardless of who's on the other side I want Stanford to play great and be victorious. I never want anything to be personal between me and other coaches. It's a waste of time.

Q: Because of the perceived similarities between the two schools, has the situation at Northwestern at least led you to consider how you might deal with a similar situation at Stanford, should that occur?

A: No, I haven't really considered much of it. I don't think we're in a similar situation, personally. It's two different schools, two different groups of student-athletes. So I haven't really considered being in that situation. I'm glad I'm in the situation where we are. I think our student-athletes truly appreciate what we try to provide for them and how we support them. So it has not been a topic of conversation here.

Stanford coach David Shaw leads his players out prior to the Pac-12 championship game against Arizona State last Dec. 7 at Sun Devil Stadium. Stanford defeated Arizona State 38-14.(Photo: Mark J. Rebilas , USA TODAY Sports)

Q: Sticking with Northwestern – sort of. A week or so ago, Pat Fitzgerald derided the use of star rankings from recruiting services, saying he doesn't use them, doesn't focus on them, has no use for them. At Stanford, have you found any utility from recruiting services in identifying recruits or are you and the staff using an organic search for prospects without using that information?

A: This is something I learned with the Oakland Raiders, working for Al Davis and Jon Gruden – and that combination was a whole other topic, but it's fascinating, because their ideas were, let's take the guy that fits us. I don't care if a guy gets cut from someplace else as a free agent, we don't care if no one else wants to draft this guy. If he fits us, we want him. The same exact thing in Baltimore with (general manager) Ozzie Newsome. Is this guy a Raven or is he not a Raven? We don't care about anything else. And we've taken that same mentality here. Coach (Jim) Harbaugh would say, "Hey, is he a tough son of a gun? If he's not, then let's pass on him. We don't care if he's been offered by the entire country."

If we question his toughness, then we can't take him. I've continued that on here. The games are won by the players on the field. And they need to be mentally, physically and emotionally tough human beings in order to win a tight, close game against Oregon. To win a tight, close game against Arizona State. Those are tough, tough situations. The guys who don't fold are the guys who find a way to win.

Star ratings? Some of those star ratings hinge on a guy going to some stadium some place and wearing a headband and throwing the ball, running through cones. That's not football. Some of the star ratings come because he's on this great seven-on-seven team that won a championship. Seven-on-seven's not football. I want a kid that plays football, is a tough human being, is a good human being and has the chance to be on our team if they're academically sound as well.

Q: One trend I've noticed nationally is a small shift away from the traditional spring game toward using that final day as a let's-install-one-more-thing afternoon within the confines of a normal practice. Do you see any validity in that approach, trading the game-day experience for what some coaches might call a more productive use of time?

A: Well, I think it's a great experience for the fans. Selfishly, for me and our program, I'm happy when other people don't do that, because that's one more tough, physical day that we use for evaluation. I want to put our guys in game situations, I want to tackle, I want to be physical. I want there to be a fourth-and-1 where guys are fighting for every inch. That's another day of real football to me. And I think those things are valuable. Some people will worry about injuries, and I completely understand that. But if it's not a devastating injury… if a guy gets dinged up in spring football, he's back at training camp.

So I don't believe in pulling the reins on spring football. That's the best time to teach and that's the best time to evaluate guys playing full-speed, tackle, live football, and I love that we do it in the stadium with people watching and it's on TV. It's the closest thing you get to an actual game. And I want to evaluate our guys in that, because sometimes you can't do that in training camp because you're too close to the season. So the spring game, to me, is a great game day, in the stadium, people are in the stands, on TV … how well do you play?

Q: The SEC is going to decide soon about a nine-game conference schedule. (Note: The SEC decided Sunday to remain with an eight-game schedule.) The Big Ten is moving that way. The ACC is going to have the conversation. Do you have an opinion on where you stand in a conference that plays nine? Would you prefer uniformity?

A: I am 100% in favor of everybody being on the same schedule – whatever it is. If most of us are going to nine games, great. If the rest of them catch up to where we are, then that's great. I think you'll see more parity. Because what you see in our conference is not just the nine-game schedule, it's the fact that you have to play your non-conference games early in the season. So for those teams that don't have that, both of those caveats, where they can play eight games and then schedule a I-AA or an easy victory – let's call it what it is – in week 10, so they can get a break in between two tough opponents… we talked about that in our conference. Steve Sarkisian was one of the guys who said it. "Hey, if I can schedule a game between Oregon and Stanford that's a break of a game for me, great. I'd love to do that."

But we can't do that, you know. So for me, yes, I hope they all go to nine games just like we are. That's great. But if not, let's stay with the same scheduling rules. To me, that's the only way to say that we're all on the same page and we're all going through the same battles. Because for us, we're playing nine straight for the most part, nine straight conference games with Navy and Notre Dame in between, not Western Carolina but Notre Dame between our conference games. No offense to Western Carolina, of course.

But I would love to see every conference play by the same rules so we can get to the end of the year, know who the conference champions are, know who truly belongs in that four-team playoff, with minimal debate.

Q: I think the Pac-12's making strong gains on the SEC for the deepest, strongest conference in college football. From your perspective during the last three or four years, have you seen the sort of growth from the Pac-12 that makes it a contender for the strongest league in the country?

A: For the people that know, who really study and know it, they know that that's the truth and it's been the truth for the last few years. You look at our conference and say, "Where is there a break?" You know? Now, are we completely 12 strong right now? Nope, we've got a couple programs that are still building. But you're looking at a Washington team that's in the top 25, a UCLA team that's in the top 25. Stanford and Oregon. You're trying to go into Oregon State's stadium and come out with a victory, and it's tough. It's hard. You look at where Arizona State is right now. It is difficult to go into Arizona State and come out with a victory. Look at what they did to UCLA last year, and then UCLA comes around at the end of the year and they're one of the hottest teams in the nation toward the end of the year.

So you look up and down our conference and you say, "Gosh, it's tough." We're nine strong and the three that are down there, they're fighting their way back. And I don't know if there's a conference that has that many teams that you look at and say, "Oh boy, this is going to be a tough game."

Q: Thinking back, and it hasn't been that long for you, can you remember your first job, what the hours were like, the pay, how you made things happen to help get to this point?

A: Absolutely. It's burned in my brain. It was Western Washington University. I was a coach's assistant. The pay was small – and Bellingham, Wash., was not an expensive place to live, but my parents had to send me money every month to help pay my bills. I want to say I got $7,000, $7,500 for the year. And it was great, an unbelievable experience. The head coach there, Rob Smith, was phenomenal to me. The coaching staff was great. It was a great learning experience, but they couldn't have paid me by the hour. The hours were long as the young guy on the staff. Once again, it was a great experience but it's burned in my brain. Sometimes, those were motivating factors for me as young coach, where it's either quit the profession or you're motivated to elevate yourself in this profession so you don't have to live that way anymore.

Q: They did pay you by the hour, it just turned out you were making $1.20 an hour.

A: Yeah, or less.

Stanford and coach David Shaw have won the past two Pac-12 football championships(Photo: Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports)

Q: When you have brothers, you're always trying to chase your older brothers, catch up to them, whatever. Sort of like motivation. It probably wasn't the same with your dad, but did you ever use his career as a motivator – like he was at this point by this age so I should be there, like that?

A: It was never that way. My motivator, and I'll be honest, it sounds hokey but it's true … the motivation for me, because my entire life I ran into some many people that has either coached with my dad or coached by the team, and they all said such positive things about him. So as I got into this profession I said, "You know, that's what I want. I want this string of guys, my entire career, that will say that I positively influenced their life." That's been my driving force for me, which is every single day I want to do what's right for the team but I want to make sure that I look at the individuals and ensure that you'll find success here.

On the field, off the field, whatever, you'll look back at your experience with our coaching staff here and our place here at Stanford and say, "You know what guys, this was a great experience." It sounds hokey, but that for me is the goal. Because people forget who won which game, forget about all those other things. But when you have a string of guys like my dad still has a string… I bump into people all the time who say, "Gosh, your dad was the best coach I ever had. I'll never forget him. Tell him I miss him." Those are so real to me that it's my desire to have that same string of guys that feel that way about me.

Q: I guess the obvious question is, do you feel that way now? Do you think that you've left behind a trail of people?

A: I've really tried. I've really tried. I think we've done well. I think there's a lot more work to do. I feel great when our recent graduates come back. I'm asked to write recommendations for graduate school, for business school, for law school, for medical school. I'm very honored to do that. I love that our NFL guys come back and come out and hang out with us. Talk to the coaches, talk about the good times, what they miss. That makes me feel good. Not just NFL talent, but we're churning out guys that enjoyed their Stanford experience and want to come back and hopefully inspire other guys. But also just to be around us, because it was so positive. So I feel really good about that.

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin walks off of the field following the completion of the Blue White spring game at Beaver Stadium. The Blue team defeated the White team 37-0. (Photo: Matthew OHaren, USA TODAY Sports)

Auburn Tigers receiver Melvin Ray (82) avoids the tackle of defensive back Michael Sherwood (36) during the second half of the A-Day spring game at Jordan Hare Stadium. (Photo: John Reed, USA TODAY Sports)